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News : Bahamas Information Services Updates Last Updated: Aug 16, 2017 - 8:42:36 PM


‘Reformation’ of Stephen Dillet to be completed in 'record time'
By Matt Maura
Aug 16, 2017 - 8:20:42 PM

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Livingstone Forbes, Ministry of Public Works, updates Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert Minnis (left) and Minister of Education, the Hon. Jeffrey Lloyd (second right) on the transformation of the Stephen Dillet Primary School during a tour Wednesday, August 16, 2017. Also pictured (at far right) is Jack Andrews, lead contractor. (Photo/Yontalay Bowe, OPM Media Services)

Nassau, The Bahamas – The “wholesale reformation” of the Stephen Dillet Primary School will be completed in record time, Minister of Education, the Hon. Jeffrey Lloyd said Wednesday.

Minister Lloyd said the end result of the transformation will be the provision of more efficient delivery of education at the facility.
 
“What would have ordinarily taken six-and-a-half to seven months to complete, will be completed in less than four months,” Minister Lloyd said following a tour of the facility. Minister Lloyd accompanied Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert Minnis on the tour.

“The fact of the matter is that you cannot do this kind of work until school is closed. Therefore, we had to wait until the students and the faculty essentially left the premises (which occurred in early June) before the contractors could get in and begin the wholesale reformation here. They have done a substantive amount of work in a matter of two months, having completed 80 per cent of the work in that period of time,” Minister Lloyd added.

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Prime Minister, Dr. the Hon. Hubert A. Minnis with Bahamas Union of Teachers President Mrs. Belinda Wilson during the tour of the Stephen Dillet Primary School Wednesday, August 16, 2017. (Photo/Yontalay Bowe, OPM Media Services)

The Education Minister said the transformation includes the construction of 29 new classroom spaces in addition to Administrative Offices, library spaces, resource centres, multi-media and media rooms and additional bathroom spaces.                                                                                                                                     

Two preschool classrooms have been added and will accommodate 40 students. The new preschool spaces will be 100 per cent WiFi “so that we will be able to facilitate the government’s intention of introducing IPADS to preschool school students which will be facilitated here.”
 
An expanded lunch pavilion and a new Tuck Shop area for students have also been included in the “wholesale restoration” of Stephen Dillet. Total cost for the transformation is pegged at $4 million.
 
Minister Lloyd said while he has been advised by lead contractor, Mr. Jack Andrews, that there might be a delay of one week for the students to arrive, the building will be completed on time: “That will occur, not because the school itself will not be finished in terms of construction, but rather because there is new furniture supplies and equipment that will also be installed to supplement some of the older equipment that will be removed,” he said.
 
“So we expect that the teachers are going return on September 4 when school ordinarily would be opened and then the students would come the following week, September 11.”
 
Minister Lloyd said the successful transformation of the Stephen Dillet facility is the result of the collaborative efforts of the contractor and officials at the Ministry of Works and the Ministry of Education.
 
“And that is a great credit to Mr. Jack Andrews and his excellent team of construction workers. I also want to point out that Mr. Coleman Andrews (Deputy Permanent Secretary of Physical Plant for the Ministry of Education) has worked very closely with Mr. Livingstone Forbes and the team at the Ministry of Works in order to make this happen today.
 
“We are happy that a Bahamian is the main contractor and that a great deal of Bahamian sub-contractors have been employed and are going to finish this project in record time.”
 
Minister Lloyd said while the original design of the Stephen Dillet did not allow for windows, space will be provided for the intrusion of natural light.
 
“So while there will not be windows so that students can come in, or potentially go outside, or somebody enter from the outside, there will be means by which natural light will be infused into the building.”
 
The Education Minister said the transformation of the Stephen Dillet Primary School is part of the Government’s intention of addressing and correcting “an old education infrastructure.”
 
“We are at a place in the Ministry of Education where our infrastructure is failing, it’s old, needs to be replaced (and) will be replaced as soon as resources permit,” Minister Lloyd said.
 
“This school has a complement of 821 students. That is slightly over the limit we would like for it to have, but our intention is to ameliorate that circumstance by just simply building more schools, building more classrooms, upgrading the facilities that we have and replacing those that need to be replaced, which we will do so as resources permit.”

 

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